Colorado considers making girls wrestling a sanctioned sport

The Colorado High School Activities Association is exploring the possibility of adding girls wrestling as a sanctioned sport, the association which governs high school athletics in the state announced this week.

The CHSAA revealed that a handful of girls-only wrestling tournaments have been established around Colorado this season, with the first event scheduled for Frederick High School on Jan. 14. CHSAA said up to four other events are possible. Turnouts and other data from those tournaments will be used to determine if girls wrestling could become an officially sanctioned sport in the Centennial State.

Additional girls-only tournaments could be held this season if more schools which already have wrestling programs decide to host events for girls.

These initial events will help determine if "there are enough girls in the state that are interested in wrestling to make it feasible to add girls wrestling as a sanction sport," according a letter from wrestling committee chair Ernie Derrera.

"We're really in an exploratory phase right now," said CHSAA assistant commissioner Harry Waterman, who is in charge of wrestling. "We're trying to gather more information, and this will help in that."

According to the CHSAA, these girls-only tournaments will use the following guidelines:

Any girls seeking to compete must be a current member of her high school team, and meet all eligibility requirements of student-athletes.

These tournaments will use seven of the 14 weight classes in place in California: 101, 111, 121, 131, 143, 160 and 189 pounds.

Girls who wrestle in a girls-only event cannot be "double-bracketed" into both the girls-only tournament and the concurring event.

Matches in girls-only events will not count towards season records, and they may not be used for postseason seeding purposes.

The girls-only tournaments will not count toward a team's 28-point limit.

Currently, seven states have officially sanctioned girls-only wrestling at the high school level: Alaska, California, Hawaii, Oregon, Tennessee, Texas, and Washington.